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A University of Vienna neuroscience lab hypothesized that stressed-out individuals, in an effort to conserve resources, become more self-centered, more egocentric, and less empathetic. And it was true! But just for men. The experiments involved giving participants stressful tasks like public speaking and math and then asking them to recognize other people’s emotions. “What we observed was that stress worsens the performance of men in all three types of tasks,” explained researcher Giorgia Silani. “The opposite is true for women.” She noted that women might have “internalized the experience that they receive more external support when they are able to interact better with others.”
